My Little Sweet Boy

My little sweet boy...

...now 17 months old,

he loves to run around and climb whenever and wherever he can.

He likes to repeat what he hears people say,

so he's learning to speak real fast!

He doesn't like to eat much now,

but when he likes something, he eats that a lot.

He still likes being outdoors,

and likes having other kids around.

He loves to hug and kiss!

He loves being with mommy,

in fact, he almost won't let anybody else but mommy put him to sleep.

He's still a darling to photograph,

his eyes almost disappear when he smiles,

and the sound of his giggles

always melts mommy and daddy's heart!

Hugs and kisses to you, my sweet boy!

And lots and lots of LOVE!!!

Little Minds

He's still so little, but clearly he has a mind of his own and he's using it.  He is learning more and more now.  He appears to have logic and understands cause and effect.

He knows that when he flips the switch, something turns on and when he flips it again, it turns off.  So that when he flipped an inactive switch and nothing happened, he gives me that curious look and says "Huh??? Huh???".

He's been saying a lot of words now--he imitates what we say and what he hears on TV and he remembers them.  But I didn't think he understood the words.  Now I think he understands most of them and he is able to connect and relate one word to another. 

Yesterday, at around 5:00pm, he kept staring at the door as if expecting somebody to come in.  He kept saying "Papa!  Papa!"  Aah...it was about time for his dad to come home.  His Nana then asked him "what's your papa's name?"  And he said "Chas!"

He has also started becoming so attached to me.  Lately, he won't let his dad put him to sleep.  It has to be me.  When I'm around, he won't play with his Nana. He keeps tailing me and follows me like a little puppy even to the bathroom.  And when I shut the door on him, he gets really upset.  I used to not have any problems working from home.  But now, it's been a challenge.

Oh, the adventures of parenthood!  Sometimes it tests my sanity, other times it's the most fun thing of all!  Nevertheless, I still wouldn't trade it for anything!

Throwing Tantrums

Lucas, at 16 months, is now seriously throwing tantrums.  He's been showing some not-so-cute behaviors for months now--climbing up the back rest of the couch or the sofa table (especially when he knows we're looking), throwing away stuff, screaming and crying when he doesn't get what he wants.  But lately, it has gotten a little worse and I feel that he actually knows what he's doing and he does it on purpose.

So sometimes, when he can't have this way, he would scream and cry and roll on the floor.  I don't know how he learned to do this, but when he does it we would not pick him up.  We'd let him cry and he eventually stands up and hugs our legs.  Other times, he would just want me and not his dad and when I go away, he would wail and cry so hard.  He wouldn't let anyone touch him and he would throw away anything he sees nearby that he can pick up.  And the wailing would actually last a good 20 minutes or so.

Some people at work told me that I should just let him be because it's normal and it's too early to enforce discipline.  I know this is normal at his age, but I don't think I should just let it be.  I don't think it's too early to discipline and I feel that something needs to be done about these behaviors.  I've got to stop them, maybe gradually, but somehow I've got to nip them in the bud.

Consistency I think is key.  If we were consistent about how we respond to these behaviors, then I think it will help him know right from wrong.  Question is--are we in synch?  I think the dad and I are in synch.  I'm not so sure about Nana.

Croup

I am afraid that what I'm afraid was going to happen is happening.  Does that even make sense?

The last time we were at my sister's, Nathan got sick.  He had croup--a respiratory disease very common in kids, characterized by harsh, barking cough.  What's different between this and a regular cough is that you don't continuously cough.  It gets better during the day and gets worse at night.  Nathan would be playing and active all day as if he wasn't sick at all, and would be miserably crying at night probably because his throat was hurting.

I was afraid Lucas would get it too, but it was too late to leave.  We were already there a day before Nathan got sick, so Lucas had already been exposed to the virus.  What made it worse is that Lucas kept chasing, hugging and kissing Nathan.  Also, we had to leave him there.  Both Charles and I needed to travel early that week and Lucas was going to stay with my sister and her family.

A week has passed since Lucas got home and he's fine.  I was happy.  I thought it's been long enough and he's not getting the disease.  But lately, I noticed that his voice is starting to get scratchy, his temperature would sometime rise and he would cough at night.  It's not as bad as how Nathan was but he is starting to display some symptoms.

I'm still hoping he didn't get the disease.  He's still very active and behaving just like he normally would.  If not for the slight change in his voice and the occasional coughing, I would not worry.

I really hope he gets spared.  When he's sick, we're all miserable!

***

Photo:  Nathan--not looking sick at all.  His hair was getting so long I decided to tie it.  He looked funny!

Good Baby

When Lucas misbehaves, he knows it.  Sometimes, before we could even react he would say, "Bad Baby!".  And he says it with a very earnest look that instead of getting mad, the dad and I would just quietly laugh, and we'd remind him, "no, you're a good baby!".

I don't know if I will ever really be mad at him.  One time I was changing his diapers and he wouldn't stay still.  So I gave him the look.  He didn't like it so he hit me in the arm, and then he hit me on the face.  I acted like I was so angry.  I said to him "you can't do that to mommy!" in a raised voice.  I just stood there and gave him a very angry look.  When he saw me mad, he stood up on his diaper changer, threw his arms around my neck, hugged me tight and said "Ma-ma"!

Well, what else can I do but hug him back?

Ugh, how can these kids be so adorable yet manipulative?  He's definitely got me and the dad wrapped around his little fingers!  But we at least try not to let him know.

Big Cousin Nathan

Lucas is so fond of his big cousin, Nathan.  When Nathan is around, Lucas gets super excited.  He would keep chasing Nathan and when he catches him, he would hug him and kiss him until Nathan gets annoyed and pushes him away.  Lucas doesn't mind getting pushed away, as long as it's cousin Nathan.

I don't know if it's because he doesn't often see other kids around.  He doesn't go to daycare, so most of the time he is with us, adults.  Maybe he gets overwhelmed with excitement when he's with other kids his age.  He is friendly with other kids too, but he is just way too clingy with Nathan.

Nathan, on the other hand, gets his revenge when Lucas is strapped to the high chair and can't chase him.  He would pull Lucas' leg, touch his head and pull his ears.  But Lucas enjoys it!

I think Lucas is going to want a brother someday, I don't know.  Or maybe he won't if Nathan stays close.  I'll worry about it later.  For now, I just want to enjoy them because they are just way too cute at this age!

Beyond Words

Lucas can also now express himself through actions.  He started doing so when he was about 9 months old.  He could already kiss then, but we were almost sure that at that time, he didn't really know what he was doing.

Now I think he understands and he's becoming more and more consistent in acting out what you ask him to do.

He can do "peek-a-boo".  He raises his arms when you say "Winner!" and does this when he finishes his meals.  He claps his hands when you say "clap" or "very good".  He waves his hands when you say "bye".  He can give a flying kiss and also kisses you when you ask him to.  He can give a high-five and touches his point finger with yours when you say "a line".  He hugs when you say "hug" or whenever he likes to hug.

He points to his nose when you say "where's your nose?" but he has yet to distinguish between his eyes, ears and mouth.  He gives you what he has in his hands when you ask for it, but he will take it back if it's something he likes.

He does not like it when people laugh.  He thinks we're laughing at him and he would start crying.  You'd have to tell him you're not laughing at him to make him stop crying.  He also cries over sad songs.  I don't know why but he would sob if you don't stop singing.  Just sing happy songs and he'll be fine.

But among other things, the sweetest thing he does is having me and his dad kiss each other.  When we are both close to him, he would push our heads together so we'd kiss.  When we kiss he'd smile and he does it again...and again...and again.

Words

I've been looking forward to the time when Lucas can talk.  Imagine how much easier it would be to just simply ask him what he wants or what's wrong instead of having to figure it out yourself?

Well, he's on his way to talking and he's learning fast.  He now has a few words.  He says them consistently and he knows when to say them so I'd like to think that he knows exactly what they mean.

His words are a good mix of English and Cebuano, which is expected since we speak Cebuano at home.  I'm not worried about English at all because I know he'll eventually learn it one way or another.

At 15 months, Lucas can now say the following words well (although some he has yet to properly pronounce):

Daddy
Papa
Mommy
Mama
Bad Dede (means "bad baby")
Pig
Dog
Bird
Guba (break - he says this when he breaks his toys)
Kuha (get)
Kakat ("katkat" or climb)
Uli (return)
Throw
Kiss
Cheers
Amen (he says this in church, following everybody else saying "amen")
Happy (the newest word he learned to speak and he loves saying it)

The last time we went to his pediatrician, she was amazed at how much Lucas can now say.  He's a small baby--smaller than most babies his age, but I think he will grow up a smart one like his dad.  I really hope so.

Sweet 14

He has changed--a lot!  Now, at 14 months, he is drinking milk again but he's becoming really picky with food.  Since he started eating solids at 6 months old until a month ago, he would just eat pretty much anything we give him.  Well, not anymore!  Even his favorite yogurt is no longer a hot commodity.

He's gotten taller but still skinny.  I find it just ok.  I like that he's not too big because I can easily dress him up.  He looks good in cute little jeans and T-shirts and even looks cute on shorts despite his skinny legs.  My cousin J joked that I should get him skinny jeans!  That I would not dare go for, or his dad would probably think I'm crazy!  Also, I don't want to give Lucas any reason to hate me when he gets older.

He's walking faster and faster everyday and he loves to walk.  He loves being outside.  It makes him happy!  He loves having other kids around--I think because he doesn't always see them.  He's with adults almost all the time.  When Nathan is around, Lucas is like a little dog chasing his master.  Nathan would sometimes get annoyed.  When Benjamin came to visit last weekend, Lucas kept kissing him!

There's one thing that hasn't changed much though.  He still remains a jolly little man who smiles big and giggles a lot!  You make a funny face and he will turn red laughing!  And this, this alone continues to melt my heart.

***

Photo 1:  Lucas at 14 months--getting ready for an early morning walk.

Photo 2:  Lucas out and about.

Sick

Lucas got sick for the first time this week.  Well, he had episodes of vomiting before but that was because I gave him something that his tummy didn't like.  I wouldn't consider that getting sick.

He started coughing last Tuesday night.  We thought it was nothing and that it would just go away.  But come Wednesday morning, his voice became husky and he was coughing more.  I decided to work from home that day and glad I did because he started becoming miserable.  That night, he developed fever and it went on until Thursday night.  Thursday, we brought him to his doctor, who said that it could just be some virus and it will go away.  Over here, they don't give babies medication unless they have something really serious.

For two nights, Lucas was miserable!  He was waking up literally every hour or more often than that.  He had trouble breathing and he wouldn't take his pacifier because he was breathing from the mouth.  He had trouble sleeping, and as expected we were awake almost the entire evening too.

He is better now.  His fever went away on Friday and he has started eating the same way he used to.  He is still coughing and has runny nose, but he pretty much got his energy and his smiles back.  Charles keeps saying "nag-kiat na sad ug balik".

Having Lucas sick really got me thinking.  I thought the first few nights after he came home was difficult.  I was sore from giving birth and yet I have to wake up every 2-3 hours because that's how often he would eat.  But if I call that difficult, this would be far worse--he was waking up every hour, he would cry hard each time and the hardest part is, there was nothing I could do to make him comfortable.  We were all helpless and frustrated.

My mom would always tell my sister and I to be really careful about where to take and what to feed the boys.  She would always say, "the hardest times of parenthood are when the kids get sick, so avoid it if you can...".  As it turns out, she was right!

***

Photo:  Lucas' first bath after his fever went away

Skinny Baby

We reduced Lucas' food intake after the vomiting episodes last week.  It's been a week now and we still haven't given him his usual amount--doctor's suggestion.  So in a week's time, he lost weight--more or less 2 pounds.

I had to go away.  I was scheduled for a business trip to New York this week and I was going to cancel it because I worried about Lucas.  But I started feeling off-color myself and I thought, it's better to be sick and away than be sick and home with my son.

Now I'm home and we're both feeling a lot better.  He's been eating fine and we have started increasing his food intake and getting him back to his regular diet.  Hope he picks up some pounds soon.

How Could I?

I've always been a really careful mom, especially because I'm new to this role and I don't pretend to know everything there is to know about motherhood.  I never took chances.  I followed rules by the book and every bit of doctor's instructions in terms of feeding, bathing and all other activities involving the baby.

Lucas has been receptive to anything.  He would eat pretty much anything we give him.  And because of that, I may have taken the rules for granted a bit.  Yesterday, I made the biggest mistake of giving him "binignit"(a.k.a. ginataan or sweet vegetable stew) which he really liked, by the way.  I hesitated because it had coconut milk on it.  But since he liked it, I went ahead and gave him some.  And I gave him more, and more at every meal.

Today, he couldn't stop throwing up.  Of course, I stopped giving him "binignit" but now, whatever he eats he lets them all out.  He is still active and he seems ok.  He doesn't look like he's in any pain.  He finishes his food, but then he throws up afterwards.

I blame myself for all this.  I can't help but ask--how could I be so careless and stupid?  This is my baby I'm talking about!  And even if he was some other baby, I still should not have given him anything that I wasn't sure was harmless.  Even many adults don't take coconut milk very well, how much more babies?!

He is resting right now--he's a little warm but sleeping soundly.  We're keeping a close eye on him and hoping he's going to be ok when he wakes up.

As for me, I swear to stick by the rules from now on.  I'll be a psycho-mom if I have to, but I'm never, ever taking chances again!

***

Photo:  Taken this afternoon--Lucas playing with his cousin, Nathan.  Lucas has been like that today--active and smiling, until after he eats.

The Perfect 10

Today, Lucas turns 10-months old!

He is my perfect little boy.  He doesn't give us any grief.  He can be difficult sometimes--he doesn't drink a lot of milk, he screams when he's hungry, he cries when we leave him alone while he's playing in his room, and sometimes it takes forever to put him to sleep.  But he's just being a baby, he does what he's supposed to do.

But I say that he's my perfect little boy because so far he has brought us nothing but perfection.  He has made us perfectly happy--he completed us!  He has, so far been perfectly healthy--the one thing I am so grateful for.  He puts a smile in our faces with his tiny sweet smiles and he rejuvenates us and restores our energy even after a long, exhausting day at work.

We had a life before him--a good one, I must say.  But for the last ten months, we had an even better, happier life and it's all because of him!

Kiss

Clapping or waving or closing and opening of the hands or even blinking of the eyes (beautiful eyes) are the most common things that babies learn how to do first.  But not for Lucas.  The first thing he learned to do and follow (when told to do so) is kissing.

When you tell him to kiss mommy or daddy or somebody, he leans forward and presses his face or forehead against yours.  At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but he does it every time he is told to kiss and he does it consistently, which makes me think that he understands.  He knows what kissing is and he knows what to do when asked to kiss.

This amazes me but it doesn't surprise me at all.  There's a lot of kissing around the house.  Mom and dad kiss quite a bit.  We both kiss Lucas a lot and when I kiss him, I tell him what I'm doing.  I'd say to him "kiss mommy beh!" and I guess he just learned how to follow.

Now, I want to start teaching him sign language so he can start communicating to us even before he starts to speak.  Wouldn't it be nice if he can tell us what he thinks or how he feels?  When he's hungry or tired or sleepy?  I'd be a happy camper if he does that!

***

Photo:  Lucas kissing his cousin, Benjamin.

Got Milk?

After nearly three weeks of drought, Lucas finally finished a bottle of milk again!  He only finished 4 oz. of milk as opposed to his usual 7 oz., but this was definitely better than nothing.

Nearly three weeks ago, Lucas just suddenly stopped drinking milk.  For about two days, he started by not finishing his 7 oz-bottle.  He would only take half.  On the third day, he completely rejected milk.

We couldn't figure out why.  We thought he got tired of the taste and I heard this is pretty common for babies his age, but could be easily resolved by changing the brand of his formula.  So we tried two other brands of formula, but that didn't work.  We thought maybe he got tired of his bottle, so we introduced a sippy cup--that didn't work either.  Then we thought maybe he's teething (he's got two right now but there should be more coming out), and the sucking gives him discomfort.  But then he sucks his binky alright, and in fact, he can't sleep without it.  We are running out of diagnosis and still don't know what his problem is, so we just kept trying and wasted a lot of milk in the process.

He is now only sustained by solids--at least he still eats.  But he has really gotten skinny and often gets constipated due to his lack of liquid intake.

Last night, I tried again and gave him a 4 oz-bottle of milk.  We've scaled down from 7 oz. to 4 oz. since this happened to minimize the waste.  And walah!  He drank and finished the whole thing!  This morning, his nanny gave him another 4 oz-bottle and he finished it again.  I hope he gets back his appetite for milk.  It worries me that he doesn't have enough liquid in his body and he is missing all the nutrients that the formula offers.  Then again, we can only keep trying.

Lucas Turns 9

NOTE TO READERS:  Sorry for back-dating this post.  I've had this in my drafts for weeks, but never got the chance to post it.  However, I'd like to keep it in my journal so I'm posting it now.

Lucas turned 9 months old on February 24.  I can't believe it's been 9 months.  The pain of labor and delivery and the recovery from it are still very fresh in my memory.  I can still feel the fatigue of waking up every 2-3 hours to either feed him or pump out breast milk when I engorge.  And for those who often see me, you'll agree that I haven't lost all the weight that I gained during pregnancy--in fact, I still have most of it.

But no matter how surreal this may seem, it really has been 9 months since I had Lucas. 

So how has my Lucas been after 9 months? 

• He's been crawling, and he can do it really fast.  Afterall, he's been crawling for almost three months now.
• He can sit up straight and has learned how to balance.  I can let him sit in the handles of his little push bike (well it's not necessarily a bike because it has 4 wheels on it, but I don't know what to call it) and he doesn't fall.
• He can stand up on his own with little or no support. 
• He can move from one place to another by taking small steps and holding on to stuff, but he can't walk yet.
• He's got two lower teeth.
• He's had two haircuts.  The oldies back home are not happy--they said babies should not have their first haircut until they're at least a year old.
• He's been eating solid food and he likes it.  He likes soup of any kind with rice cereal and some chunks of meat.  He likes fish too!
• He loves Yogurt!
• He loves being in the kitchen, especially if we are there.  He's so curious of the dishwasher--he watches really closely as his dad loads the dishwasher with dirty dishes.
• He's a little impatient.  He wants to be fed fast and he screams when I'm slow (I feed him slowly when I'm watching TV while doing it).
• He doesn't like watching TV.  When we put him in front of it, he would watch a little and look away after a minute or less--longer if he sees something interesting on the screen.
• He babbles a lot.  He can only say "dada" or "deee" or "babababa" or "anggi", but this little man can make some serious noise.
• He likes it when I read to him before bedtime.  Although he doesn't understand a thing, he smiles and laughs when I read to him.  He likes his Curious George books more than his Baby Einstein books.
• His Eczema rashes have faded.  Sometimes they reappear, but it has gotten more manageable.
• He has his ways of communicating what he wants--he lifts his arms when he wants us to carry him and he wiggles when he wants us to put him down.  He shakes his head when he doesn't like what we're giving him, and he pulls off his bib when he's done eating.  However, he never tells us when he's hungry (maybe he's never hungry?) and he never complains about being wet or having dirty diapers.
• He prefers to sleep next to us rather than in his crib.  This is bad.
• He can kiss--the first thing he has learned how to do (apart from eating and being mobile).  More about this in another blog.
• He is looking more and more like his dad.

My Lucas is growing up so fast, and there's just no stopping him.

Real Food

Three weeks ago, Lucas had his first taste of real chicken and he loved it.  Since then, I've been putting shredded chicken meat on his cereal.  Today, he had fish for the first time and he liked it too!

I was a little nervous about giving him seafood.  Some pediatricians recommend not giving babies seafood, especially shellfish until they're one year old.  But considering that Nathan had fish as early as six months old, I thought it would be ok.  I wasn't sure about how Lucas would like fish.  I was afraid he would not like the smell at all.  On the contrary, he really did like it and he ate more than he normally would.

Now it's getting harder to feed him with something from the jar.  He seems to dislike baby food now that he's had real food!  On the flip side, he will now get to taste mommy's cooking and I hope he will enjoy his meals as much as I will certainly enjoy preparing them.

Christian

Lucas had his first experience of Lent today.  We brought him to church for Ash Wednesday and like any of us who got ashes in our forehead, he got it too!

When he's big enough to learn, I want him to understand what all these mean.  And it is my responsibility to impart to him such knowledge.  Schools here don't normally teach Religion, unless it's a Catholic school so I have to be prepared to teach Lucas myself in case we can't send him to Catholic school.

I have been teaching him how to pray before putting him to sleep.  He doesn't understand it but he likes it when we pray.  He enjoys listening to me recite "Angel of God".  He clasps his hands and he giggles.

First Valentines

Today, we celebrate

We celebrate a vow

A promise, a commitment

We celebrate joy, fulfillment

And the realization of a dream

We celebrate a gift,

The greatest one we ever got

We celebrate life and love

Today is Valentines Day

And it is a good day

to celebrate...

...HIM!

Lucas-Proofing

Almost everyone who comes to visit us has asked if we have started baby-proofing the house.  Lucas has been crawling for about two months now and he has been trying to walk.  Ideally, we should have started baby-proofing before he became mobile but until now we haven't done any of that.

I thought at first that there won't be a need.  I thought that since we have a live-in nanny who's only job is to watch him, then there won't be that risk of him falling or sticking his fingers on an electrical outlet or opening the kitchen cabinet and getting access to cleansers and chemicals.  But even so, it is impossible for her [or us for that matter] to watch him all the time.  And even if we watch him like a hawk, there's always going to be that risk.  Accidents can happen.

So we started baby-proofing by buying a fence.  There is so much to fence.  We want to put a fence on the entry way to the kitchen, we want to put a fence around our audio-visual system because he now knows to push buttons on the cable box or DVD player--he is attracted to everything that lights up.  Eventually we're going to have to fence the pool.  Glad we don't have staircases so I have one less thing to worry about.

They said things get easier as the baby gets older.  Somehow that's true, but on the other hand, there also appears to be more and more things to consider.  

Li'l Dude Gets A New 'Do

Charles wanted to shave off his hair.  They said shaving off makes hair thicker.  I disagreed.  I asked that we keep his hair a few centimeters long.

So we brought him to a salon for babies and kids called "Panda Room".  But since we didn't have an appointment and there were so many customers, they could not accommodate us.  We booked an appointment for next weekend and headed home.

The following day, I felt the urge to give him a haircut myself.  I thought that if we were going to cut his hair too short, we might as well do it ourselves.  Charles has an electronic razor that has attachments for haircut--all you need to do is set the length, run it though the head and it will cut hair depending on your desired length.

It worked.  Charles gave Lucas his second haircut while I held him and tried to keep him calm.

So how do you like Lucas new 'do? :-)

A Week Without Lucas

My job requires that I travel occasionally.  Lately though, "occasionally" has turned into "quite a bit".  I traveled to three different cities this past two weeks and didn't see Lucas for an entire week.  It was, by far, the longest time I was away from him since his birth.

I have to admit that despite knowing that I will miss Lucas, I too was looking forward to the trips.  I was looking forward to nights alone in a hotel without having to wake up in the middle of the night to change Lucas' diaper or feed him.  But halfway during the trip, I already found myself aching to go home and yearning to be with my son.

It was difficult.  I couldn't sleep and I still ended up waking in the middle of the night.  I missed my son terribly!

Next time, if my trip lasts for more than 3 days, Lucas comes with me!

Restless

Lucas is getting more and more fidgety by the day.  It's so hard to change his diapers now because he can't stay still.  He rolls over, then sits, then stands up, and even tries to crawl his way off the changing table!  Charles and I would often do it together--one of us changes his diaper while the other holds him down.  And still it's not easy.  I wonder how his elderly nanny does it during the day.

When I carry him, he keeps twitching and squirming, as if trying to break free.  But if we put him down, he would scream, sometimes cry and ask to be carried again.  He would also climb up to my shoulders using my tummy and my boobs as his steps.  Yeah, it hurts!

Now it's time to really baby-proof the house because what comes next is even more challenging.  Pretty soon, we'll be chasing after him!

Finally, A Tooth!

I started to worry.  At almost 8 months old, Lucas still didn't have any tooth.  My nephew had teeth when he was six months old.  A colleague's baby had his when he was four months.  Another colleague's baby is 2 months younger than Lucas, yet she's had teeth since a couple of months ago.

I heard most babies get sick when they're teething.  Lucas has never been sick so I thought maybe it's really not time for him to have teeth yet.  But why this late?  I thought he was an early bloomer--having crawled at six months and standing up straight at seven.  But when it comes to teeth, he's no early bloomer at all.

Then finally, yesterday morning I fed him pieces of chicken with my bare hands.  He tried biting my finger and I felt something sharp.  I checked, and there it was--some tiny white thingy sticking out of his gums!  Lucas finally had his first tooth, just before he turned eight months old!

Standing up

For the first time today, Lucas stood up on his own!  I did not witness it, but Charles did.

I tried to put him to bed, but he wasn't sleepy yet so he got up, sat in his crib and started playing.  I left him there.  He normally would just fall asleep when he gets sleepy.

A few minutes later, Charles went to his room to check on him and there, Charles found him standing on the corner of his crib trying to grab the baby monitor that was placed on top of the dresser next to his crib.

Lucas managed to pull himself up!  Charles was so shocked at what he saw, he exclaimed "Hala!" and frightened Lucas.

I think Lucas is pretty advanced when it comes to his mobility skills.  Today, I read this at Babycenter.com:  "Your baby is now 7 months old.  As your baby's muscles are becoming stronger, he's apt to lunge forward onto all fours from a sitting position.  He may go into a "precrawl" exercise, rocking back and forth on hands and knees with his trunk parallel to the floor."  Well, Lucas was already doing this a month ago and this was exactly what I wanted to describe him do in this blog.

I am happy to see these early signs of mobility in him.  At least I know his muscles are strong.  I was a little worried about this part because he drinks less milk than he's supposed to.

Tech-y

I think my baby is growing up a geek.  He loves electronics!

Anything that lights up and has buttons interests him.  He would ignore his toys if he sees a phone or a remote control.  He likes pounding on a keyboard.  He stares at the computer with utmost curiosity.  Of all the things in his room, he seems to be most interested in the baby monitor--he likes playing with it.

When he sees me with my camera, he smiles!  And I think that's because he is amazed at the camera and the light that flashes from it, not because he understands that I am taking his photo.  Well, at least it helps me take photos of him smiling!

First New Year

This was Lucas' first New Year celebration.  We planned to just stay home, have a nice dinner and watch the New York ball-dropping ceremony on TV.  But Charles decided to invite a few friends over.  They were Filipino trainees at his work, who didn't have their families here to celebrate with.  I'm glad they came.  We had fun and they stayed way past midnight.  We just chatted, ate, watched TV and did a little karaoke.

As for Lucas, he tried his best to stay awake.  I tried to put him to bed around 10pm, but he wouldn't sleep. He is like that when there are people around.  He doesn't want to go to sleep, as if afraid he would miss out on all the fun.  So I thought, "that's fine!  Maybe it's also a good thing that he's awake to meet the new year". Sadly, he fell asleep just 10 minutes before the strike of midnight!

This is his very first 2010 photo...

On New Year's Day, we went to a friend's place for Sunday Brunch.  It was awesome!  I got to give myself a break on the holiday cooking!  I love to cook, but sometimes it's nice to be the one enjoying somebody else's cooking!  The food was good, the company was even better!

On New Year's day, Lucas has the chance to play with other kids.  He is the youngest of these three little boys--Matthew (at the back) is 2 years old, Enzo (right) is 11 months.

Seven

Lucas is now seven and a half months old, and he has changed so much!  I am amazed at how some things seem to happen overnight.  He seems to understand us better.  When we talk to him, he would stare at us and listen--as if he understands what we are talking about.  When Charles and I are talking, he would also stare at us and listen like a "chismoso" would.  He also now knows how to raise his hands when he wants us to pick him up.  He knows how to want to be part of a conversation by babbling while we talk, and raising his voice if we don't listen.  He also does not want to go to sleep when he sees that we are still doing something--either watching TV or on our computers.

He is now more coordinated and can crawl faster.

What's not great right now is that he won't stay still.  He moves so much and he always wants something to do.  Nanny has started complaining that it's getting harder and harder to change his diapers.

I wonder what's next...

Celebrating Motherhood

I celebrated my 34th birthday today--my first birthday as a mom!

When my mom was 34 years old, she already had all three of us--my sister, me and my brother.  Now, at 34, I've just become a mom.

I didn't have big plans for the day.  I didn't even think about skipping work.  But a few days ago, I thought to myself, "it's my first birthday as a mom, and what better way to celebrate it than to spend the day with my son".  And that's just what I did!

At 34, I became a mom, and motherhood is the best birthday gift I've had in my 34 years!

Took Lucas to the kids play area at a mall nearby.  It was too cold to go to the park.  Excuse the blurry photo--taken with a cellphone camera.

Fall-like Winter

It was a beautiful winter morning!  The sun was up and the air wasn't as chilly as it normally is this time of year.

So right after we got home from church, I brought Lucas out to the front lawn.  I couldn't resist the bright colors of the maple leaves that fell to the ground and covered the grass.  I just had to take a photo of Lucas sitting on the ground.  The combination of green, browns, oranges and red made everything look vibrant.

It looked like Fall, it felt like Fall!  It was nice to have a day like this in the middle of the winter!